Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats, freeze Russian state assets

[snoop1130]

Britain expels 23 Russian diplomats over nerve attack on ex-spy

By Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas

 

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May reacts as the leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn responds to her address to the House of Commons on her government's reaction to the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, in London, March 14, 2018. Parliament TV handout via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is to kick out 23 Russian diplomats, the biggest such expulsion since the Cold War, over a chemical attack on a former Russian double agent in England that Prime Minister Theresa May blamed on Moscow.

 

May pointed the finger firmly at Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday as she outlined retaliatory measures in parliament.

 

Russia denies any involvement in the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who have been critical in hospital since they were found unconscious on March 4 on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury.

 

May announced the potential freezing of Russian state assets that pose a security threat, new laws to counter hostile state activity and a downgrading of Britain's attendance at the soccer World Cup in Russia this summer.

 

She had given Moscow until midnight on Tuesday to explain how the Soviet-made Novichok nerve agent came to be deployed on the streets of Salisbury, saying either the Russian state was responsible or had lost control of a stock of the substance.

 

"Their response demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events," May said in her statement to parliament. "They have treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance."

 

The only possible conclusion was that the Russian state was behind the attempted murder of the Skripals and the harm that befell Nick Bailey, a police officer who is in a serious condition after being exposed to the nerve agent, May said.

 

"This represents an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom," she said.

 

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would swiftly retaliate against the British measures which had been undertaken for "short-sighted political ends".

 

"The British government has made a choice in favour of confrontation with Russia," it said.

 

MAY DENOUNCES PUTIN

 

The two governments blamed each other for the crisis.

 

"Many of us looked at a post-Soviet Russia with hope. We wanted a better relationship and it is tragic that President Putin has chosen to act in this way," said May.

 

Britain, which has received statements of support from the United States, the European Union and NATO, has said it would seek to coordinate an international response to the attack.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she took the British findings seriously and there would be a common European stance, although "we must still talk responsibly" with Russia despite differences of opinion.

 

A French government spokesman said Paris was awaiting proof before deciding if it would act in solidarity with London.

 

Skripal betrayed dozens of Russian agents to Britain before being arrested in Moscow and later jailed in 2006. He was freed under a spy swap deal in 2010 and took refuge in Britain.

 

The attack on him was likened in Britain to the killing of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, a critic of Putin, who died in London in 2006 after drinking green tea laced with radioactive polonium 210. Russia refused to extradite the two Russians identified by Britain as the killers.

 

Britain's response to the Litvinenko affair, which included the expulsion of four Russian diplomats, was criticised domestically as too weak, and many in British politics and media have called for a much tougher response to the Skripal attack.

 

Some Russia experts cast doubt over whether May's actions met that test.

 

"This is certainly not a strong response from Britain - it is a mild response," said Mathieu Boulègue, a Russia expert at Chatham House think-tank in London. "It will not deter Russia because Britain is showing too little steel."

 

May said the 23 diplomats, identified as undeclared intelligence officers, had one week to leave and Russian intelligence capabilities in Britain would be damaged for years.

 

May also said Britain would revoke an invitation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to visit and suspend planned high level bilateral contacts between London and Moscow. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said Lavrov had not accepted the invitation to visit Britain anyway.

 

On the soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting in June and July, May said no ministers or members of the British royal family would attend.

 

"CORRUPT ELITES"

 

But unlike when the United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea, May did not name Russian individuals or companies that would be specifically targeted by sanctions.

 

"We will freeze Russian state assets wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents," she said.

 

She said checks on private flights, customs and freight would be stepped up to better track those travelling to Britain who could represent a security threat.

 

She also threatened action against those she described as "serious criminals and corrupt elites," adding: "There is no place for these people, or their money, in our country."

 

London has been a venue of choice for many rich Russian to buy property and the in-flow of Russian money has led to the capital being nicknamed "Londongrad".

 

Russian gas giant Gazprom will cut hundreds of jobs at its overseas trading and export offices, including Britain where it has its largest such office by far, and move them to St Petersburg, as part of a drive by Putin to repatriate capital to reduce exposure to sanctions, according to two sources familiar with the plan who spoke exclusively to Reuters in Moscow

 

In a separate development, British media regulator Ofcom said it could strip Russia Today, a Kremlin-funded TV channel, of its UK licence. Russia has said British media would be expelled in retaliation should that happen.

 

(Reporting by Costas Pitas, Estelle Shirbon, Guy Faulconbridge, Michael Holden, Alistair Smout, Elizabeth Piper and William James in London, Christian Lowe in Moscow, writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Stephen Addison and Richard Balmforth)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-3-14

[Grouse]

Jolly good!

[evadgib]

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-commons-statement-on-salisbury-incident-response-14-march-2018

[Jack Mountain]

The British are so 17th century ... LMAO btw.

[chickenslegs]

7 minutes ago, evadgib said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-commons-statement-on-salisbury-incident-response-14-march-2018

Thank you for posting. Great speech and worth reading in full.

 

 

[Phuket Man]

14 minutes ago, Jack Mountain said:

The British are so 17th century ... LMAO btw.

They are?

It is ok to murder people on British soil?

[Jack Mountain]

2 minutes ago, Phuket Man said:

They are?

It is ok to murder people on British soil?

Ask Guy Fawkes ....

 

[BuaBS]

Looks like a setup . Russian elections coming up . The Russian meddling in US elections is fading . Smells like CIA again . Getting the US and the Europeans back in line against Russia .

UK getting some Russian gas in this hash winter . More sanctions? Then cut the gas Vlad . 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, BuaBS said:

Looks like a setup . Russian elections coming up . The Russian meddling in US elections is fading . Smells like CIA again . Getting the US and the Europeans back in line against Russia .

UK getting some Russian gas in this hash winter . More sanctions? Then cut the gas Vlad . 

The setup is from Putin trying to drum up turnout for his fake election. 

 

(I hear St. Petersburg is nippy this time of year.)

Edited March 14, 2018 by Jingthing

[OJAS]

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

May said the 23 diplomats, identified as undeclared intelligence officers, had one week to leave and Russian intelligence capabilities in Britain would be damaged for years.

So one assumes, then, that these 23 diplomats were specifically identified as undeclared intelligence officers on the basis of MI5/MI6 surveillance of their activities, rather than merely 23 names drawn out of a hat by ol' Boris.

 

And how long will it be before we are all commenting on a news thread titled "Russia expels 23 British diplomats" or similar?

Edited March 15, 2018 by OJAS

[evadgib]

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-russian-state-was-responsible-for-the-attempted-murderand-for-threatening-the-lives-of-other-british-citizens-in-salisbury

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/novichok-nerve-agent-use-in-salisbury-uk-government-response

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/organisation-for-the-prohibition-of-chemical-weapons-87th-executive-council-session-14-march-update-on-the-use-of-nerve-agent-in-salisbury-uk

"They don't like it up 'em Mr Mainwaring!" ?

[Jingthing]

So at this point Russia and the west are in a hostile situation. Compared to the peak of the cold war, how far down that path are we now? 75 percent? 

[StraightTalk]

Ah, the presumption of guilt is mind-boggling.

The English government have thus far failed miserably for providing any cerebral evidence to implicate the Russian government.

So much for presumption of innocence!

Moreover, there's no rational motive for the Russian government to carry out this assassination, especially at this point of time.

The liquidation of this double agent could have been done during his six-year incarceration in Russia.

Me thinks that this incident is artificially exaggerated and a welcome opportunity to steer away the English people from other internal affairs such as the Brexit debacle...

What next - boycotting the soccer games or Gazprom switching off supply?

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is illusion of knowledge" - Stephen Hawking.

I.e., the illusion or ego of knowledge is precluding/hindering the progress from finding out the truth.

[Credo]

It was a weapons-grade nerve agent, developed by the Russian government which was used to kill a Russian spy.   

 

I doubt it was the Swiss who did it.   

[evadgib]

11 minutes ago, SouthernDelight said:

Ah, the presumption of guilt is mind-boggling.

The English government have thus far failed miserably for providing any cerebral evidence to implicate the Russian government.

So much for presumption of innocence!

Moreover, there's no rational motive for the Russian government to carry out this assassination, especially at this point of time.

The liquidation of this double agent could have been done during his six-year incarceration in Russia.

Me thinks that this incident is artificially exaggerated and a welcome opportunity to steer away the English people from other internal affairs such as the Brexit debacle...

What next - boycotting the soccer games or Gazprom switching off supply?

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is illusion of knowledge" - Stephen Hawking.

I.e., the illusion or ego of knowledge is precluding/hindering the progress from finding out the truth.

BRITISH!

Edited March 15, 2018 by evadgib

[Scott]

Troll posts and reply removed.  

[StraightTalk]

55 minutes ago, Credo said:

It was a weapons-grade nerve agent, developed by the Russian government which was used to kill a Russian spy.   

 

I doubt it was the Swiss who did it.   

I question the possibility in determining the source of production of a chemical pure substance; In theory one can only perform an Isotopen analysis on carbon and hydrogen (which is absent from the product in question). But therewith one can only establish the region of the raw material of the base material. More often than not has the original region of the raw material nothing to do with the origin of the final product.

[meechai]

1 hour ago, Credo said:

It was a weapons-grade nerve agent, developed by the Russian government which was used to kill a Russian spy.   

 

I doubt it was the Swiss who did it.   

As if the CIA would not have samples of this?

Would be very amateurish for the Russians to leave a calling card specific to them

But the desired result was achieved by whomever did leave it

[Eagle60]

1 hour ago, SouthernDelight said:

Ah, the presumption of guilt is mind-boggling.

The English government have thus far failed miserably for providing any cerebral evidence to implicate the Russian government.

So much for presumption of innocence!

Moreover, there's no rational motive for the Russian government to carry out this assassination, especially at this point of time.

The liquidation of this double agent could have been done during his six-year incarceration in Russia.

Me thinks that this incident is artificially exaggerated and a welcome opportunity to steer away the English people from other internal affairs such as the Brexit debacle...

What next - boycotting the soccer games or Gazprom switching off supply?

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is illusion of knowledge" - Stephen Hawking.

I.e., the illusion or ego of knowledge is precluding/hindering the progress from finding out the truth.

Have to say I agree. I thought the same. Whatever anyone thinks of Putin ( I am no fan), he is not a stupid man. He is probably the sharpest world leader out there currently. Not that I relish saying that, as I am unbiased and certainly no devotee.  Why on earth would they bother just before elections ? What benefit would it be to him ? Zero. It would serve only to have a negative impact.  He has nothing to gain at all. If I am wrong, I am wrong. But when I once spoke to an information expert, he told me, always look to who benefits the most. Okay, well Putin certainly is not the person in this case who gains anything. But those who hate him, have much to gain.

 

Does anyone remember the weapons of mass destruction campaign, that lead USA, UK and other countries in Europe into war in the Middle East. The highly respected person, given the job by the governments, to inspect for weapons said 'there are none', but the governments did not want to hear it and took our countries into a war that killed over 1 million people, cost the USA (trillions of dollars), the UK (billions of pounds), of hard earned tax payers money,  and set a course along with other terrible foreign policy decisions, to create the largest humanitarian crisis and mass migration of people ever in history. Once again all at the cost to the hard working tax payer. Those who caused this fiasco all went on to make lots of money of course and take no responsibility for their lies, appalling decisions and killing of innocent people. Then we had chemical weapons used by Assad in Syria. No evidence at all to prove it, only sensational news articles and TV news snippets. History has taught us many times, not to believe what some people tell us, what newspapers write and what we are told on CNN, or BBC. But some people still soak it up like a sponge. If Putin and his cronies were responsible and you have 100% accurate evidence, why not talk to them, not threaten them. Why not show evidence and why not pour water on a fire, rather than petrol. The last thing we need is to be enemies of Russia. It helps no one at all and certainly does not benefit the British tax payer. I also do not believe he wants to be enemies of us. Remember 20 million of them died fighting in WW2. On the same side as us. Without USA and Russia, the UK would have lost 100%. 

 

Personally I am not sure I believe they did this, but if I am wrong, okay. But whatever way one looks at it, hating Russia, throwing hatred at them, doing childish things like saying we are not going to your sporting event etc, are hardly positive to anyone. Talk to the man with respect and you might actually move forward in relationships. Threaten, accuse and spread anti Russian propaganda and it gets no one anywhere, except in a bad place. Happy days.

Edited March 15, 2018 by davidcc

[malagateddy]

Tinker..Tailor..Soldier..Spy..episode 3 ??

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Credo]

1 hour ago, SouthernDelight said:

I question the possibility in determining the source of production of a chemical pure substance; In theory one can only perform an Isotopen analysis on carbon and hydrogen (which is absent from the product in question). But therewith one can only establish the region of the raw material of the base material. More often than not has the original region of the raw material nothing to do with the origin of the final product.

Again, probably not Switzerland.

[Jack Mountain]

Looks like the investigators are supervised by the same people who did the MH17 'investigation'. 

Just in: https://www.rt.com/news/421340-uk-block-un-skripal/

 

Btw. The Americans are 'helping' in a former USSR state to clean up a chemical weapon production/testing site since the 90-ties.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/world/us-and-uzbeks-agree-on-chemical-arms-plant-cleanup.html

 

So everybody has this stuff ...

Edited March 15, 2018 by Jack Mountain
Added RT link.

[nahkit]

2 hours ago, SouthernDelight said:

The liquidation of this double agent could have been done during his six-year incarceration in Russia

But then they wouldn't have been able to use him in the subsequent spy swap.

 

Hardly a compelling defence to say that they could of killed him before, makes much more sense to kill him when he's no longer of any use to them.

[StraightTalk]

The plot thickens!

(Source: English News)

"Will Putin turn off the gas tap? Cold snap next week 'puts Britain at the mercy of Russian gas giants' as reserves in Europe reach record lows and Moscow vows to strike back at UK."

 

"DOUBLE agent Sergei Skripal’s daughter was the real target of the nerve agent attack that left them fighting for life, his niece has claimed."

[connda]

Welcome to the New Great Game. 

[Scott]

A troll post has been removed.  

[Baerboxer]

15 hours ago, Jack Mountain said:

Ask Guy Fawkes ....

 

 

Are you suggesting someone who was part of a treasonable plot to overthrow the then government, monarchy and religion of a country, and was duly executed for it, is similar to someone attempting to murder a former spy and his daughter?

 

Whilst neither are acceptable, they are somewhat different in magnitude, don't you think?

 

Or would you prefer to see the UK and her NATO allies declare war on Russia?

[ballpoint]

It's almost as if a very timely public and brutal warning was being sent out to any other Russian agents currently under investigation in the West.  Don't squeal guys, no matter how much pressure the special counsel interrogator puts you under.

[shackleton]

The  sanctions  are pathetic May should be hitting them in the pocket 

getting the ones with money who are located in London 

Stop them owning football clubs ect 

thinking about not letting the England football team attend the World Cup in Russia 

is really going to scare them ( Not ) 

[dunroaming]

2 hours ago, shackleton said:

The  sanctions  are pathetic May should be hitting them in the pocket 

getting the ones with money who are located in London 

Stop them owning football clubs ect 

thinking about not letting the England football team attend the World Cup in Russia 

is really going to scare them ( Not ) 

May can't do too much.  Russian money is extremely lucrative for the City and therefore the British economy. It has been since the old days of the Soviet Union. To kick out the rich Russians would have a real effect on the City and with the UK in it's weakened state over Brexit she cannot afford the fallout.

 

As predicted she has gone down the usual route of expelling Russian "diplomats" and we can expect the Russians to do the same.  These things are never black or white.